The Robeson County Sheriff's Office is investigating allegations that Pembroke Elementary fifth-grade teacher Angelica Allen threw shoes and a marker toward students during the first week of classes. One student's mother also sought a temporary restraining order. Parents say Allen told students on the first day that she was known to throw objects and flip desks to get their attention.
The allegations, first reported by the Robesonian, involve incidents reported over two days at the start of the school year. Tamara Brayboy and Donna Kamalu told the newspaper that Allen threw a shoe that struck a fifth-grade student on Sept. 1 while he was changing classrooms. The next day, they said, Allen threw a shoe at another student and threw a marker toward Brayboy's 10-year-old daughter after taking a marker from her own desk.
A Marker That Narrowly Missed an Eye
Brayboy said her daughter reported that the marker narrowly missed her eye. Brayboy filed a temporary restraining order against Allen on Sept. 8, seeking to have the teacher removed from Pembroke Elementary. According to the account relayed to the Robesonian, Allen responded to a question about the incident by saying, “I made it.”
Damien McLean confirmed that the Special Victims Unit of the Robeson County Sheriff's Office is investigating the allegations.
Parents Say Administrators Promised a Review
School administrators assured Brayboy and Kamalu that they would investigate the allegations, the Robesonian reported. Allen did not respond to an email seeking comment from the Border Belt Independent, and Jessica Sealey said she could not immediately comment or respond to a public records request for Allen's personnel information. Portia Brazelton did not return a phone call seeking comment either.
That limited public response also reflects North Carolina law. Under North Carolina General Statute § 115C-321, public school employee personnel files are confidential, and the UNC School of Government describes a special statutory procedure for releasing confidential information, according to the UNC School of Government. Separately, North Carolina law sets out student-discipline provisions, according to the North Carolina General Assembly. Whether the alleged conduct falls within those provisions would depend on the facts and the investigation.
Civil Order Offers a Legal Path Outside the Classroom
Brayboy's temporary restraining order is separate from any potential criminal case. North Carolina Chapter 50C allows a parent to petition a district court for a Civil No-Contact Order on behalf of a minor child, potentially restricting an individual — including a non-relative school employee — from approaching, contacting or harassing the student, according to the North Carolina Judicial Branch. Unlike domestic violence protective orders, these orders do not require a personal or familial relationship between the parties.
Allen has taught fifth grade at Pembroke Elementary since August 2023 and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke with a degree in elementary education, per the Robesonian's reporting. Kamalu said firing Allen would be harsh, but she hopes the teacher is suspended. Brayboy said the schools have failed their children and put them back in dangerous ways, adding that students should not have to worry about being harmed by teachers and that this should not be happening in the school or to the children.
A District in Transition, a School Already Under Strain
The allegations surfaced just as Dr. William “Bill” Harrison took office as interim superintendent of Public Schools of Robeson County on September 1, following the retirement of longtime superintendent Dr. Freddie Williamson, according to the Border Belt Independent. The district's board has hired the North Carolina School Boards Association to search for a permanent superintendent by late November. The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction says the State Board of Education's licensing authority is delegated to the Superintendent of Public Instruction and identifies mandatory reporting under G.S. 115C-326.20 and related provisions, per the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.
Pembroke Elementary enrolls roughly 703 students in grades PreK through 5, with a 97% minority student body, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Recent state accountability data showed the school ranking in the bottom half of North Carolina public schools, with proficiency rates of just 28% in reading and 33% in math, per SchoolDigger.
The allegations also land in a district with a fraught history around physical discipline. Public Schools of Robeson County officially banned corporal punishment in August 2018, ending a policy that had once made the county the state's highest user of classroom paddling, accounting for more than half of all statewide incidents in 2013, according to EdNC. Before that ban, Robeson was one of only two North Carolina districts still allowing corporal punishment in schools.
What State Records Show
Statewide data show that corporal punishment had fallen before Robeson's 2018 ban and was later reported at zero across North Carolina. The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction reported 60 uses by two local education agencies in the 2017-2018 academic year, down from 75 the previous year. In its 2022-2023 Consolidated Data Report, the department said no public-school unit reported using corporal punishment that year, the fifth consecutive academic year with no reported use.
A separate case offers a comparison but not a North Carolina precedent. On May 3, 2021, FOX8 WGHP reported that a teacher at Central High School in Phenix City, Alabama, was accused of throwing an unknown object at a student and was placed on paid administrative leave while the incident was investigated.
